WHAT IS THIS?

    PIC BY P. ÁLVARO (2009)

Probably one of the most photographed animals in the Highlands of Scotland, this 'hairy coo' is called a Hamish. Could you name other cultural icons of Scotland apart from Haggis, tartan, bagpipes or the Loch Ness Monster? What do you know about Scotland's independence referendum?

EXPANDED EDUCATION

WAVE OF EVICTIONS LEADS TO HOMELESS CRISIS IN SPAIN

Headlines all over the world reflect recent suicides after evictions. These dramatic events have forced Spain's conservative Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition to agree measures to stop banks evicting the most vulnerable people. Only yesterday banks announced they will freeze mortgage-related evictions for two years in cases of extreme need as a public outcry mounted over suicides by homeowners. Three days after a woman jumped to her death as officials arrived to evict her from her home, public anger mounted. Four years since Spain's property market crashed, an estimated 350.000 family homes have been repossessed. Read the New York Times or the BBC site to learn more.

ELECTION DAY PARTY

If you want to watch the results with patriotic desserts, and indulge yourself without spending a fortune, Martha Stewart's site is a good source of recipes, cooking tips, handmade gift ideas, or Thanksgiving table settings. On her blog she also shares her ideas on living.

EUROPEAN THINK TANK (EST)

It was founded in 2010 in order to encourage public debate at an international level. It aims for active participation of the young citizens of the EU in European politics, by serving as a platform via which motivated students can develop and share their ideas, react on European news and discuss issues with experts on the field. Check their site out.

THE ITALIAN MAN WHO WENT TO MALTA

Taboo words, phonetics and cultural misunderstanding. Do you find it extremely dull when we do insist on long and short vowels? Watch this video on the net. So true.

BEHIND SPAIN'S TURMOIL. JOHN CARLIN

'Behind Spain's turmoil lies a cronyism that stifles the young and ambitious.The country needs more than a bailout. It needs a revolutionary change in its hidebound social structures'.

This article appeared on the Observer on Sunday 30 Sept. 2012. and I quote: 

'Here's the news from Spain last week, in case anybody missed it: huge cuts in government spending; higher taxes; biting austerity; unemployment higher than in Greece; big and growing demonstrations in Madrid; violent clashes with police; and in Catalonia, a rising clamour for secession. The only hope on the horizon takes the ambiguous form of an expected financial rescue package, with still more austerity strings attached, from the richer countries of the north'.

Please leave your comments.

GLOBAL ISSUES ORG

This site is an excellent starting point for your search of websites featuring all major global issues such as poverty, arms trade, women's rights, biodiversity, global warming, or genetically modified food. Remember global education is as much a matter of how we teach as of what we teach. This approach requires that teaching materials impart the knowledge, skills and attitude required to help students become socially responsible world citizens.

HUGH LAURIE: BRITISH SLANG VS: AMERICAN SLANG

Hugh Laurie visited Ellen's show and they played a brilliant game on slang. Have a gig watching it at YouTube.

US CAMPAIGN RESUMES AFTER SANDY

Excellent update at BBC site. Both teachers and learners will find it useful to check out the above heading at the 'Words in the press' section. You can read reports, listen to them, download them or check relevant vocabulary. I would recommend as well: 'Challenges remain after Sandy'

GAUGUIN AND THE VOYAGE TO THE EXOTIC

With so nuch competition from the public sector, the quality of Madrid private galleries and museums has also improved. The current Gauguin Exhibition at the Thyssen features the voyage as an escape from civilisation, a theme that provided the avantgarde with new impetus, but also as a return to the origins, to the edenic state.

AUTONOMOUS LEARNING REVISITED

Autonomy was a buzz word for the TESOL market. I would recommend 'Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning (2001). it is an appropriate starting point for student teachers, researchers in Applied Linguistics, and teachers involved in self-access learning, and learner trainning in autonomy. 

STEVEN PINKER: THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT

The language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (1994)

In this classic, the MIT's expert on language and mind brilliantly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. Full of humor and wordplay. Do not miss the preface.

THE YOUTHXCHANGE GUIDE UNESCO

It is an excellent toolkit to train and teach on sustainable lifestyles available in 20 languages. If you search for its website, you would be able to add content, dowload documents and send your comments to UNEP and UNESCO.

TREASUE ISLAND: BRITISH ART FROM HOLBEIN TO HOCKNEY

'Treasure Island' portrays the artistic evolution of the British Isles, from religious sculptures - damaged by the Puritans during the Reformation - to Pop Art pieces by Blake and Hamilton and Toni Cragg's emblematic 1981 sculpture `Britain Seen from the North´.

According to the organizers, its title 'invokes the eponymous novel by the British writer R. L. Stevenson, showing how the island has a treasure -its art, painting and sculpture- which, like almost every treasure, remains half-hidden, waiting to be discovered.' Very impressive.

FUNDACION JUAN MARCH, MADRID.

KEATS AND SHELLEY IN PIAZZA DI SPAGNA

Piazza di Spagna has been a compulsory stop for tourists ever since the 18th century, when a number of poets and musicians stayed nearby. The small pink house at the bottom of the Spanish steps is now a Memorial House crammed with manuscripts and belongings of Keats and Shelley. If tea is your crave, try Babington's tea rooms on the Piazza. Do not miss Café Greco in via Condotti, whose clients included Casanova and King Ludwig of Bavaria.

GLOBAL CLASSROOMS MODEL UN

Bridging the Education Gap and creating New Citizens, that is the goal of this UN program established to engage students through the exploration on international issues and institutions, cultivating global literacy (including the ability to read critically and communicate effectively in writing), life skills and the attitudes necessary for active citizenship. Over the past decade it has worked in 24 major cities around the world. Find out more about Model UN Conferences, the final event where students show their skills and debate topics on the UN agenda.

HOW TO HELP - HURRICANE SANDY

I'm sure many of you know, the New York Marathon was called off,  but many of the runners got out and headed to Staten island to help out with relief efforts. For those of us both near and far who would like to give a hand, I would suggest donating money to the Red Cross by text or through iTunes, helping out on eBay or Amazon, or local Food Banks.

THREE EXAMPLES OF COVERING LETTERS

Search for this heading at the Careers section of The Guardian.  There you will find a three styles guide for editing your own covering letter, depending on the sector you are approaching (from business to art). Remember you are selling yourself. If it is sloppily written, they warn us, the chances are your CV will end up straight in the bin.

GOYA IN THE PRADO

The Museo Nacional del Prado has launched 'Goya in the Prado', a website within its own one exclusively devoted to Goya, which includes documents by the artist. The public and experts can thus access the more than 1000 paintings, drawings, prints and documents housed in the Museum. Go for it.

GRICE'S COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

The English language philosopher Paul Grice proposed in 1975 that in ordinary conversation speakers and hearers cooperate to be understood, and try to avoid ambiguity by attempting to be informative, truthful, relevant and clear. But these rules would mean that humour, puns and tales would become a diversion of his cooperative principle. Basic in Pragmatics. Check out a slideshare in Applied Linguistics (Univ. of Pamplona). Watch a video by Phloneme in YouTube explaining the maxims of conversation.

BBC THE FLATMATES

The Flatmates is a weekly online soap opera for learners of English. If you are a teacher, the resources on the page will help you to exploit the series and its materials in the classroom (lesson plans, cartoon strips and worksheets)

APARTMENT THERAPY

Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is the co-founder of this popular new York-based home and design site. Refreshing how he can transform the dreariest place into a cosy urban oasis using his eight-step therapeutic cure.

CRAFT GUERRILLA

Love crafts' Are you for sharing your know how? Check out craft guerrillas, stop by their website, or even join them. This Christmas, make it Hand Made! So they say at the East London blog. Pop in and feel inspired for your DIY-ing. (Do IT Yourself). Do not forget the Spanish sister armies. Great Fun.

ASSESSING THE DAMAGE FROM HURRICANE SANDY

The New York Times has recently published a number of graphics on the damage from hurricane Sandy. Check out the Web for news on Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey.

MOBILE LEARNING

If you are interested on innovation, I strongly recommend 'Mobile Learning: Transforming the delivery of Education and Training', edited by Mohamed Ally in Canada (2009), AU Press, Athabasca University (also online). It contains a comprehensive view of advances, research and applications of Mobile Learning by experts from both European and American Universities. Do not miss the glossary, or the differences between e-learning and m-learning.

CITYBREAKS IN BRITAIN

Most people know about London, but aside from that they are not really sure where else to visit in Britain. Brighton is just an hour away and great for a day trip. Enjoy some fish and chips at the Victorian pier, walk along the pebble beach, and visit the Royal Pavilion. Great shopping and nightlife. At Bath, the spa town famous for its Roman baths, you can enjoy a day of pampering, or walk past the beautiful Georgian houses. It was the home of author Jane Austen.

BBC WORDMASTER

Check this game out to test your vocabulary skills. Three levels and thousands of words to practise. Use the clues if you're stuck, and remember to click listen for the right pronunciation. Great fun.

SOLAR AND HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY (SOHO)

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is a joint project of international cooperation between rhe European Space Agency (ESA) and the NASA. It is currently the main source of data for weather prediction. Impressive solar storm pics.

11 NOVEMBER, REMEMBRANCE DAY

Armistice Day or Remembrance Day  is known because we wear a red poppy in memory of those who gave their lives in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts. If you visit London, bear in mind that Poppy Day may result in road closures due to parades and special events.

FILOGLOSSIA, LEARNING GREEK AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Dodge the crowds and find your own language experience. You will be able to approach more Greeks, and find your way on your own while travelling to the country. This site could be the start. Get a handy phrasebook as well. Just in case.

GUY FAWKES DAY AND BONFIRE NIGHT

Saw a BBC documentary on Guy Fawkes. Apparently, a high percentage of young people don't have a clue about it. November, 5? Was he the bloke in 'V for Vendetta'? Is global Halloween killing local celebrations? Are they making a big thing of it while we talk ours down? What is considered to be important in culture? Fireworks? Yes, please.

HALLOWHAT?

Are you travelling to Spain for the first time in November? There are tons of local alternatives to Halloween. Spanish remember their dearly departed on All Saints' Day bringing flowers to their graves, but you may also taste a few traditional sweets, such as 'Huesos de Santo' (literally 'Saint's bones'), made of marzipan, or 'Buñuelos', quite similar to 'Churros'. If you can get to see a performance of Don Juan Tenorio to end up the day, seize the opportunity. Alcalá de Henares could be the perfect place.

WORLD SKETCHING TOUR

A Portuguese urban sketcher goes around the world to sketch whatever his eyes seize. Five continents, five years, one dream. Share his sketches and experiences and read some Portuguese.

IATE, TERMINOLOGY FOR EUROPE

The IATE open web site is the EU's inter-institutional terminology database, and since 2004, it has been used in the EU institutions and agencies for the shared management of a variety of multilingual entries. Worth visiting. 

URBAN DICTIONARY

Contemporary American slang words and phrases. It includes favourites, word of the day or tv sections. You can write your own definitions.

EDUCATIONAL COMIC STRIP

To support innovation in learning you could use MakeBeliefscomix, which generates comic strips. Do you have any ideas for using it? It encourages writing and reading in a quick and fun way. Both for literacy and ESL.

SLIDING HOUSE

London architects dRMM designed in 2009 a house with mobile walls and roof that may look like a simple barn, until you discover that it can be moved to cover or uncover parts of the dwelling. Sustainable design, both beautiful and practical. Details matter. A video worth seeing.

GREEN GUERRILLAS

In the early 1970's Green Guerrillas began rallying people in New York City to use community gardening as a tool to reclaim urban land and bring people together to solve problems in their neibourhoods. Get some information about ongoing projects.

UK GOVERNMENT CUTS AND NEO-VICTORIAN NARRATIVE

Search for a series of brief articles under the banner 'The UK in 2017' in wich the authors imagine the effects of UK government cuts. Patrick Butler's satyrical piece on social inequalities is particularly brilliant on its comparison to Dickens' writings. Gloomy prospect.

TOOLS FOR MILLENNIAL LEARNERS

Engaging the newest generation of learners, age 18 to 30, implies a shift from a teacher driven classroom, to a student-driven one. Read Allen & Swindle (2007). Explore the wide range of educational cool tools as Wordle, Screencast-o-matic, Jing, Prezi or Glogster. They will boost your creativity and enhance your writings and presentations with powerful visuals. List your top five tools.

HAIDER ACKERMANN BY TILDA SWINTON

Interview magazine is one the coolest sites from accross the Web. Since debuting his first collection in 2002, the Colombian-born Ackermann has a small but devoted tribe of followers: intellectuals, hipsters, and forward-thinking types - among them his interviewer here, the actress Tilda Swinton. Join us.

WHAT SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT EFSA?

CEO (Corporate Europe Observatory) publishes a new educational tool explaining some of the major problems at EFSA, the agency responsible for food safety in Europe. Pass it on.

LINGUEE

Lovers of langauages, listen up: Linguee is a translation tool combining a dictionary and a search engine with wihch you can search through bilingual texts for words and expressions. Compared to other online dictionaries, it offers a great variety of contextual translation examples, its frequency and source. SPA, GER, FRE, POR.

COUPLING UP AND DOWN

Zoe William's article on the experience of three couples over the class divide is worth reading for further debate. Comments range from bitter to hilarious. (October, 19, The Guardian). Leave yours.

OER COMMONS (OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES)

UNESCO claims that the universal access to quality education is key to the building of peace and intercultural dialogue. In 2002 they coined OER to mean teaching and learning materials freely available online. Willing to design resources on your own? Check out Richey & Klein (2007) for Design and Development research. Lane (2010), or Mulder (2011) for further reading.

MIHO SATO

Interested in Contemporary Painting? You will like this: Miho Sato talks to Alli Sharma at her studio in London. (Check out a blog called Articulated Artists)

ITALIAN FOR LIT GEEKS

Blogging about language geekery. If you are not big on it, save us both the embarrasment and stop reading this. If it is too late for you, check out the Lang-8 site. Just fell for Italian culture? Then, this could be one of your Ten Top Sites:  

http://www.mixcloud.com/mezzorainitalia/

DENIS DUTTON: A DARWINIAN THEORY OF BEAUTY

Controversial presentation by Denis Dutton that argues for a universal philosophy of beauty based on science. Is our appreciation of beauty an evoultionay adaptation? Leave a Reply.

WEAR SHERLOCK

I am constantly amazing at the number of curiosities you may come across. Like this blog on the wardrobe and props of the BBC show, or The Baker Street Babes Podcast: cosplay competitions included.

NATIONAL POETRY DAY, OCTOBER, 5.

The Scottish Poetry Library produces a set of poem postcards for the National Poetry Day. You can read the poems featured on this year's cards and leave a comment. Worth visiting.

PEFPI: PORTFOLIO EUROPEO PARA FUTUROS PROFESORES DE IDIOMAS

Circula por ahí un issuu con las subcategorías y los descriptores PEFPI , muy útil no sólo para los profesores que están iniciando su formación. Podéis consultar además la puesta al día del enfoque metodológico del Instituto Cervantes en esta materia. Refrescante.

EPOSTL2: PILOTING AND IMPLEMENTING THE EUROPEAN PORTFOLIO FOR STUDENTS TEACHERS OF LANGUAGES (2008-2011)

Piloting and implementing the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages 

(EPOSTL 2) 2008-2011.

http://coordination.ecml.at/Portals/3/documents/AM1_EPOSTL2_ProjectDescription_ETem.pdf

Further reading: http://epostl2.ecml.at/

AROMAPOETRY

A must. Just type aromapoetry, browse, and open up to Expanded Semantics.

ERNEST DOWSON

The late nineteenth-century poet Ernest Dowson, led a tragic life. When I'm in your shoes, surfing the net in search of emotion, I run after links like this video: Richard Burton reading Dowson's poem 'Non solum qualiseram bonae sub regno Cynarae' 

JIM ROGERS ON EU SPAIN BANK BAILOUT

Guest to CNBC's Fast Money last June, financial guru described the bailout of the Spanish banking sector as 'absurd economics' in a controversial interview that set internet on fire. Worth checking out.

CHINESE GARDENS: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats

This exhibition explores the rich interactions between pictorial and garden arts in China across more than one thousand years. It features more than sixty paintings as well as ceramics, carved bamboo, lacquerware, metalwork, textiles, and even several contemporary photographs that illustrate how garden imagery has remained an abiding source of artistic inspiration and invention.Through January 6, 2013. 

(Source:The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

THE CRUELLEST MONTH

The cruellest month begins with A, right; but as winter crawls in, nostalgia seems to settle in for the good old days when I wouldn't know certain details about T.S. Eliot. Worth checking out at Letras Libres, Dec. 2011. Great José Emilio Pacheco focuses on treason, while recieved opinion insists that there is not such thing as treason. Hmm...

THE NY ART BOOK FAIR

If you are arty and you know it, the New York Art Book fair is the world's premier event for artists' books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals and zines presented by 283 international presses, booksellers, antiquarians, and independent publishers. So they say. 

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

Christopher Hitchens' appreciation by Ian McEwan was particularly focused on his last weeks.'Hard living and linguistic lust', was stated at The Guardian upon his decease last December. Worth surfing.

NEVER MIND THE EDUPUNKS

Never Mind the Edupunks; or, The Great Web 2.0 Swindle (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE.edu

Do not miss this article. It raised great controversy a couple of years ago. Check out an article published in 2008 at The Guardian, called: 'Nevermind the pedagogues, here's edupunk'. Learn this buzzword, and leave your comments here.

BLACK MIRROR

I would encourage everyone to watch Black Mirror, Channel 4. It is  a neo-Victorian dystopia in three chapters that will leave you breathless. El primero le hubiera encantado al Welles de Sed de Mal por su arranque. El segundo es berlusconiano. El tercero es casi Paprika de Tsusui + Philip K. Dick. En la línea de Huxley y Orwell. Muy darwincotidiano.

DICKENS 2012

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.'

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

Talking about 1775? 1854? 2012?

IN WITHOUT KNOCKING

WELCOME. You have stopped by a blog which is also a WebQuest, or a Web 2.0. It features an example of how blogs and wikis fit into the WebQuest model, originated at the San Diego State University Department of Educational Technology in 1995. Wether you are an education student, or an experienced teacher trainer looking for material, I hope you will find something to meet your needs.

My goals are to extend sudents thinking skills to the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy; to support critical thinking and problem solving through cooperative learning, scaffolding and technology integration; to encourage students to bridge the gap between school and real world experiences.